Post submitted by Allison Herwitt, Former HRC Vice President for Government Affairs

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has just set the stage for a Senate vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) next week. You can help us get the votes to pass this critical bill by sending a message right now.

Act now: Tell your senators to vote for ENDA right away!

Here's the problem: Right now in 29 states, there is no state law protecting a gay, lesbian, or bisexual person from being fired or denied employment just because of who they are – and the same is true in 33 states for transgender people.

HRC has been fighting for nearly two decades to pass ENDA and guarantee basic workplace protections for hardworking LGBT Americans. And now, we are facing a historic vote in the Senate.

But it won’t happen on its own. Washington's senators your U.S. senator 1 and your U.S. senator 2 need to know that their pro-equality constituents like you want them to support ENDA – now.

As a straight ally who's been leading HRC's campaigns in Congress for seven years, I've witnessed the damage done by having two tiers of equality in this country – a patchwork of laws where some people have basic rights and protections and others do not.

But ENDA is more than just a key protection for LGBT people. This is a fight to ensure that no American has to live in fear of losing a job because of who they are or who they love.

We've made progress by passing many state and local laws over the years, but people living in the 33 states without full employment non-discrimination laws are still susceptible to the bigoted whims of whoever sits in the boss's chair.

This is our best chance in almost 20 years to fix our nation's employment discrimination laws.

Standing together, we can keep pushing the country we love to treat everyone equally. There’s no time to wait – we are about to take a leap in the right direction.

Tell the Senate: Secure equality in the workplace NOW by passing ENDA.